Procrastination
by the.goal.is.greatness
Summary: Hard work often pays off over time, but laziness pays off now. [Shikamaru x OC]


**Title:** Procrastination  
**Genre:** Romance / Humor  
**Rating:** K  
**Pairing:** Shikamaru x OC  
**Spoilers:** N/A  
**Summary:** Hard work often pays out over time, but laziness pays off now.  
**Word Count:** 1,406  
**Warnings:** AU

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ is not mine. Summary is from .

**A/N:** Repost from my PrettyLittleLiars account

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"SHIKAMARU!"

The dark-haired chounin rolled his eyes, shoving his hands deeper into his pockets. "Tch. So troublesome," he muttered as he began to walk away. He quickly started to leave the main section of Konoha behind, with its bustling streets and loud noises. Pretty soon it was growing quieter and calmer.

He knew what that old hag Tsunade was screaming about. Lazy Nara Shikamaru, lazy chounin genius, skipping out of his teaching duty at the Academy. _Again_.

"Tch," he scoffed. Like he _wanted_ to teach self-absorbed seven year olds how to throw sharp metal objects at one another. Not him, that was for sure. Who the hell do you think they flew at when the brats missed their target? Him, that's who!

_Besides_, he thought, as he continued heading towards an empty field he'd claimed as his own, _it's not like their aren't any chounins hanging around town. Half the Rookie 9 has nothing to do. She can just get one of them to teach for a change_. He's pay good money to see Naruto teach a bunch of kids when he was barely more than a child himself. It's probably wind up being Shino or Hinata, honestly.

When he reached the field, he took a deep breath, feeling calm for the first time all day, as he took in the wide field of flowers, ringed by tall trees. It completely hid any view of the town from his wandering eyes. Nothing to hear but the calls of birds. Nothing to see here but butterflies and a bright blue sky dotted with clouds as fluffy as cotton candy. A perfect day for cloud watching. An excellent reason (in his mind, anyway) to be shirking his duties as a teacher for the youth of Konoha.

His wandering glance around the field (it never hurt to keep an eye out of traps or enemy shinobi) and suddenly Shikamaru noticed a young woman entering the field from a few yards away. He eyed her, sizing her up. The Konoha forehead protector he noticed shining around her ankle made his slightly less wary. Slightly. For a second, she glanced at him, sensing his presence no doubt and feeling his stare. Her clear silver eyes, almost like a Hyuuga's save that hers had a dark pupil, met his brown ones before she turned and tilted her face towards the sun as she closed her eyes.

Shikamaru shook his head. What was the point in being out here on a day like this if you weren't going to look at the clouds? You definitely couldn't do that with your eyes closed. He ran his fingers lightly over the pack of cigarettes in his pocket. It wasn't the same pack that Asuma had given him… on that day… but the sentiment was the same. Putting one between his lips as he settled on the ground, he lit it idly while watching the clouds. If he listen closely he could still hear Tsunade ranting. _So troublesome…_ He took a drag.

The only reason he didn't fall over as a face appeared suddenly over him was the fact that he was already lying on the ground.

"Smoking is bad for you." The girl flipped her shoulder-length blonde hair behind her.

He scoffed, trying to calm his still rapidly beating heart. "That's not really your problem, is it?"

"Yeah, well…" She plucked the cigarette from his mouth and placed it between his lips. "It kinda is," she mumbled around the cigarette, "because you're smoking in my meadow."

Shikamaru sat up so that he was sitting cross-legged facing her. "Your meadow?"

She took a drag. "Yep, my meadow." She made a face and handed it back to him. "Don't understand what the appeal is."

He chose to ignore that as he took it back from her. Letting the cig dangle ideally from his fingers as he rested his wrist across his knee. "Your meadow?" He asked again, hoping for more elaboration.

Flopping down beside the chounin, she stretched out on the ground, letting her eyes slide clsed. "I come here at this time after every mission, because most everyone else is working, all the younglings are at school, and the shinobi are all on missions or at home. It's quiet here. And you've never been here, so… mine." She smiled at him, even though her eyes were closed, revealing a hidden dimple on one side of her mouth.

He scoffed, focusing on her words and not on the way his teenage mind wanted to dwell on how long her legs were and how soft her hair looked. "Well it's too troublesome to leave now." She seemed to accept this as an answer and remained quiet. After a long moment, he asked her who she was.

"Kita," he said. "You're Shikamaru, right? You probably don't remember me, but I was at the Academy when you were, the class right after you. I – "

"You're the loudmouthed girl," he said with sudden clarity.

"Hey! You _do_ remember me!" Her eyes blinked open in pleased surprise.

"You talked more than Naruto." When she made a flabbergasted face at him, her mouth open in shock, he chuckled. "It was a little more intelligent, though."

"Gee, thanks." But she was chuckling, too. "I like to be heard, usually. But out ere though… it's peaceful. I don't have to talk or anything, or fill the silence. I can just listen."

"You know, it's hard to see the clouds with your eyes closed."

She glanced at him, still sitting up beside her, looking down. "I said listen, not look. Who wants to cloud gaze anyway?" He quirked a brow at her in answer. "What's so appealing about the clouds anyway?" Her eyes drifted closed, her chin tilting up to let more sunlight fall across her cheeks and nose. "They're never the same, they're unreliable. The sun is always there, even if you can't see it, it's always there."

The words were an enigma, carrying more weight than their mere definition. Suddenly, a wayward piece of conversation, overhead as a child, and then dismissed until now, scuttled across his mind. "Your parents were killed by Kyuubi, weren't they?"

He saw her eyes twitched and cursed himself for his inability to be tactful. "Yeah…" She sighed. "That's why I like the sun. It never goes away."

"… Life is so troublesome sometimes, I wish I could just float away without a care." He doesn't know what makes him say that suddenly, but he feels his chest release with a sigh when she grins up at him.

"Like a cloud?"

"Hai. Like a cloud." For a few minutes, the two of them were content to just sit there. Kira stretched out on the ground basking in the sunlight. Shikamaru sat beside her, leaning back on his hands, and watching the clouds go by. Finally, though, she stirred and began to stand.

Before he even realized his mouth was moving, he found himself asking, "Where are you off to?"

She seemed surprised at the question. "Well… I can't sit here, can I?"

"Why not?" His own tone was colored with surprise.

"Well… because I have things to do…"

"So?"

"Shikamaru – " There's a longing in her voice that he thinks has to do with her secret desire to skive off work and be lazy all day.

"People don't normally have the patience to sit with me." He sighed. "It's troublesome but… do you want to hang out with me here today?" It's an effort to ask the question, to run the risk of being shot down.

"Well…" She shot one last glance back towards Konoha, before coming to an internal decision and settling more firmly back on the ground beside him. She smiled up at him. "You know, I'm really glad I came out here today."

He nodded in agreement.

Her eyes drifted closed in contentment. "I didn't want to teach the kids anyway. Some lazy ass chounin skipped out on his duties and Tsunade was gonna make me fill in. Glad I came here instead."

For a second, there was silence, and then Shikamaru threw back his head, and laughed.


End file.
